Thanh Mai

Thanh Mai (1955-    ) is an overseas Vietnamese singer, former actress turned restaurateur.  Since her rise to fame in the Vietnamese pop music industry as a teen sensation, she has been affectionately dubbed as Tieng Hat Hoc Tro, which literally refers to the innocent sound of her singing voice similar to that of a schoolgirl.

Born as Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai on March 12, 1955 in Saigon, South Vietnam, she entered the entertainment industry as a child performer around the age of 10 when she became an official member of the musical youth singing troupe formed by stage and film actor, Xuan Phat.  As a child, Thanh Mai was an extremely pretty girl which was one of the reasons she was often singled out by viewer audiences whenever she appeared on television performing alongside her fellow singing troupe members.  At the age of 13, she made her debut solo performance on national television in South Vietnam with a song entitled Buc Hoa Dong Que.  

At the age of 17, she pursued her professional singing career with full force as she began performing nightly at a cabaret in Saigon called Chieu Tim.  Shortly afterward, Thanh Mai would also headline at other cabarets such as Chi Lang and Hong Hoa.  It was at Hong Hoa where she would be spotted one night by musician Nguyen Anh 9 who had taken a liking to her live performance of Gia Tu Dem Mua written by Van Phung.  He then took Thanh Mai under his wings as a protegée and teamed her up with another of his discoveries, a young male vocalist and songwriter named Quoc Dung, to form as a duo.  Through his connections, Nguyen Anh 9 made it possible for the duo to appear on national television performing the tune he had written, Ai Dua Em Ve. 

As the duo's popularity would grow, Quoc Dung and Thanh Mai began headlining for larger venues and cabarets in Saigon such as Ritz, Khanh Ly Nightclub and Duong Son.  Thanh Mai recorded for various major record labels of South Vietnam like Nhac Tre, Thanh Thuy and Tung Giang.  Among her most popular recorded hit singles included songs written by her singing partner, Quoc Dung, such as the eponymous Mai, Ben Nhau Ngay Vui, Con Gio Thoang, Bien Mong and Que Huong va Mong Uoc, Toc Mai Soi Van Soi Dai written by Pham Duy, Bay Di Canh Chim Bien written by Duc Huy and Bup Be Bang Nhua (Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son), a duet with Thanh Lan. 

Right around the time Thanh Mai's singing career was being launched, so did her acting career.  In 1971, Thanh Mai made her film debut in Gac Chuong Nha Tho, a starring vehicle for Mai Le Huyen which was produced by veteran stage and film actress Tuy Hong.  The following year, she costarred with Le Quynh in what has often been considered to be her breakthrough film role in Bay Ngam. This role would also earn Thanh Mai a Van Hoc Nghe Thuat award, South Vietnam's equivalent to an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress of 1972.  She would continue her film career with supporting roles in other films produced in Saigon during the next few years such as Truong Toi (1973) starring Quoc Dung, Thanh Lan and Bang Chau, 5 Vua He Ve Lang (1974) which featured an all-star cast that consisted of Thanh Nga, Tham Thuy Hang and Thanh Duoc and Tuoi Dai (Naive Age), which she had completed shooting right before the Fall of Saigon but unfortunately was never released.  Produced by Thai Thuc Nhi for Alpha Films Studio, Tuoi Dai was intended as a starring vehicle for Thanh Mai but remains shelved in the vaults of Vietnam's censorship authorities inaccessible to the general audience to this day.

In 1978, Thanh Mai and her husband, Yersin, a French national of Vietnamese and Indian descent, left their native homeland to resettle in Paris, France.  During the 6 years living in Paris, she continued with her career as a professional singer for the overseas Vietnamese community of France.  Thanh Mai performed nightly at Vietnamese-owned cabarets located in the 11th district of Paris and also at live shows for overseas Vietnamese audiences in other European countries.  In 1983, she along with Julie Quang, Huong Lan and Quoc Anh were among the lineup of singers featured on the very first volume of Paris By Night produced by Thuy Nga Paris where she performed her signature hit song, Ben Nhau Ngay Vui, as well as a duet with Tan Phat of the Nhat Truong-penned ballad, Khi Nguoi Yeu Toi Khoc.  The following year, Thanh Mai would leave Paris and relocate to Southern California.  She has since collaborated with numerous overseas production labels such as Da Lan, Thanh Lan, Giang Ngoc, Kim Ngan and Asia Entertainment.  During the mid 1980s Thanh Mai formed her own production label and has released a series of studio albums, most notably Tinh Ca Nhac Tre (1985), Tinh Ca Nhac Tre 2 (1986) and Cho Nguoi Toi Yeu (1988).  In addition to her busy schedule of live performances and audio recordings, she had also been selected as the overseas Vietnamese spokesmodel representative for Oriki, an international Japanese-owned cosmetics company.  Thanh Mai had also embarked on a new career as a restaurateur in 1987 when she first opened Thanh Mai Restaurant in the Little Saigon community of Westminster, California which remains in operation to this day after several location changes.  In 2005, she was reunited with her former singing partner, Quoc Dung, performing a medley of their famous hit songs as a duo on volume 78 of Paris By Night filmed in Toronto, Canada.

Thanh Mai has been a longtime resident of Orange County, California since resettling to the United States from France over 30 years ago.  She and her husband have been married since 1975 and have two grown daughters, Fatima and Maryammalle.  In recent years, Fatima has followed in her mother's footsteps and has become a singer in the Vietnamese community of the United States.

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